This invention pertains to burners for the combustion of liquid fuels, and particularly to gasification burners which typically comprise a gasification chamber protected from a flame and having at least one heatable wall. Gasification burners generally make advantageous use of fuels and yield combustion gases which contain few pollutants (such as unburned fuel particles and soot particles).
European patent application No. 0 006 747 describes a burner in which liquid fuel together with air is fed into a helical duct. The liquid fuel enters a mixing chamber, is mixed with additional air, and escapes through openings in a burner plate, thereby creating a flame above the burner plate. This flame also warms the burner body and provides the necessary evaporation heat. The burner is started by heat from an electric heater coil.
Although relatively advantageous, burners such as the above-described nevertheless suffer from numerous deficiencies. Evaporation of fuel in the presence of air causes undesired deposits to form in the burner. These deposits interfere with efficient evaporation of the fuel. In prior art burners, these deposits often build up throughout various portions of the burner since such burners provide no means for confining the gasification temperature heat to the particular region in which gasification occurs. Moreover, the gasification burners currently available provide no satisfactory means for removing such deposits once they have built up in the gasification chamber.
Another example of a disadvantage of present day gasification burners pertains to the relatively short flame produced by such burners. Short flames are not well suited for many burner applications.
Accordingly, an object of the embodiments of this invention is to provide a gasification burner wherein gasification occurs essentially with an absence of air.
An advantage of the embodiments of this invention is the provision of a gasification burner with means for confining the optimal gasification temperature to an air-free gasification chamber.
Another advantage of the embodiments of this invention is the provision of a gasification burner with means for removing any undesirable deposits which may occur therein.